Dreaming in Color - Palette Play

Back to school for me is more time for creative pursuits. I am putting the garden to bed, and this weekend I cleaned the studio. I found so many lost treasures, and color stories started presenting themselves right before my eyes. “Palette Play” is one of my favorite pastimes. Usually a printed piece of fabric, a snapshot, or a memory will spark an idea. At this point in the creative process, I just play and have the question, "What if?", in the back of my mind. I pull any color that seems to want to play with the rest of them.

This floral print from my stash caught my eye. I kind of like the true red with the raspberry, and the pinks set on the soft rust that just felt like fall. To balance out all of the red families there is a bit of forest green, gold, deep navy, light blue, and white.

The fabric palette got my creative juices rolling and I started pull friends that might work in the creative process. As you can see from the pieces below I “pushed the blue” to a warmer turquoise and it felt right so I kept it. I also stepped up the reds.

I always feel better during this time of discovery when I cut into the fabric and make a couple of samples to see what relationships I can create. As you all know a color will look different depending who it is next to. Take a look at the two pincushions below and you will see that in the first one the colors are richer and there is more depth (read the end of this post to see how you can win one of the pincushions). 

In the second one I added the soft pink and the light gold. I am not sure about the pink. It almost feels like it should have been narrower. As I look back if I had taken more clues from the fabric I would have realized that the light pink is like little brush strokes. I could have repeated that in the composition and it would have worked better.

With my explorer hat in place, I wanted to try to simplify the colors using solids for my next experiment.

Here are more experiments.

Here is an example of pushing a color lighter, darker, brighter, duller in one family. I use this technique to create variety in my compositions.

What I have learned from an afternoon of palette play with these fabrics is that I will make a larger quilt from these and develop the plan working intuitively. Referring back to the two pincushions, my favorite discovery is the raspberry color and how it created more interest in each composition.

I teach ongoing workshops at the store using my two books Journey to Inspired Art Quilting and The 2^nd Edition of Intuitive Color and Design as the foundation for gaining confidence to trust your instincts and dive into the creative process. I purposely put text in the books about the creative process, and encouraging words that will help students who cannot be in the classroom.

Do you want to win one of Jean's pincushions? All you need to do is leave a comment on this post by Oct. 6th. We'll draw two names from the commenters on Oct 7th and announce the winners on the blog. Be sure to check back to see if you've won, so we can get in touch to ship your prize. 

Congrats to Kathy Sperle and Carmen Che!! You've each won one of Jean's pincushions. Please get in touch with your address. 

Comments

[Samantha Roshak]

And the winners are... Kathy Sperle and Carmen Che! You've each been sent and email, please get in touch with your address so we can mail you your pincushion.

[Linda Fitzgerald]

Thanks for sharing your processes and the beautiful results! My first time visit to your shop coming April 2020. Hoping there will be a class to take :)

[Leslie]

What an interesting and fun way to keep the creative juices flowing.

[Judy Miller]

You have opened my eyes to these color combos. So deep and rich. I am ready to venture out of my black and white mode. Thank you for the inspiration!

[Michele Bishop]

They are lovely ❤️ Just a short time now and I get to see all the lovelies in your shop ❤️

[Blog]

Thanks so much for all the comments! We love hearing from you all and it inspires us to do more when we know it's appreciated.

[Penny Dominici]

I never would have thought of adding a sliver of pink. I’m always so heavy handed with accent color.

[Ine Sweere]

They’re so different but so recognizeble als a real ‘Jean’. I’m very fond at the way you work and colourchoices. And I ‘eat’ your last book from begin to end. So inspiring to me.

[Deb Levin]

As I sit on my back porch looking at your creative color play, the colors are blending with the fall woods in my yard. How nice!

[Linda Rouse]

I love the colors you pulled. I have both of your newer color books. I would love to win your pincushion so I can use the colors for a quilt inspiration.

Thank you for all your years of sharing what you know.

[LauraT]

I like how you used the pincushions to try out new color schemes. Especially liked the perspective of how you would have changed the light pink. I’ve been looking forward to taking one of your classes in the near future. I’m hoping to take pebbles, rocks, and stones in the spring. I love how you keep looking for things to inspire you.

[Pam Foss]

Absolutely love these colors, they say the desert or the beach to me. Love your creative work!

[Lorie Marez]

Thank you for sharing your creative process with us. I can’t wait to retire and take one of your classes. 🥰

[Jane Parker]

Lots of great ideas for my stash! I am at peace pulling out “pieces” of fabric to mix and match. ‘Dreaming in Color” seems to let us matchy match people expand our color horizons!

[Nancy Albritton]

These are fantastic colors!!

[Sharon Wall]

Lovely!!!

[Cynthia Hovland]

I’d feel honored to win a Jean Wells pin cushion.
They are awesome and love the color pallet!
Love Jean’s work. ❤️

[Carolyn Fosterman]

Love the floral fabric from your stash!!!

[Carmen Che]

I learn so much from you. You are a true inspiration! I am so glad that I have had the privilege to learn from you in person. My favorite pincushion is one that I made in your class. My wall hanging I made in your class is proudly hanging on my wall :)

[Janie]

What fun experiments! Thanks for sharing.
I like the second pincushion with the very light pink
because it contrasts so obviously with the very dark color in the lower left, is that
black or dark purple?
Too matchy matchy is boring. Contrast opens possibilities I think.